hollywood bad behavior. what have you learned today? >> what i learned today is the bodien polar bear mascot is in town. 100th anniversary as a mascot named in 1913. >> that's exciting. >> four years after boden's admiral perry discovered the north pole. >> richard? >> i learned it's very hard to win the national championship game if you have an imaginary girlfrie girlfriend. >> i learned that s.e.c. plays real football and their players have real girl fremdfriends. mika -- >> come on. >> mika has an aversion to mascots. come give a big hug. >> no. >> the bear looks hungry. >> i'm good. >> okay. >> give her a big bear hug. >> no. >> can you chase her? >> no. >> come on. mika. >> get her! get her! >> all right. very good. all right. hey, listen. if it's way too early, it's

"morning joe." >> i've got to go. >> mika! >> thank you so much for being with us today. we greatly appreciate it. coming up right now we have chuck todd and "the daily rundown." we'll see you tomorrow. capital offense. president obama puts congress on notice with his push for expanding gun regulation. can his supporters cobble together enough votes on california total hicapitol hillo get what he wants. we'll talk to stanley mcchrystal. find out what the man who led the u.s. mission in afghanistan has to say about his ouster. president obama's pentagon pick and a lot more. and 2013 kicks off with another sports scandal. suddenly, a tear-jerking tragedy for one of college football's brightest stars turns into a twisted tale of lies. good morning from washington, it's thursday, january 17th, 2013, this is "the

daily rundown," i'm chuck todd. we couldn't ignore te'o. the first read of the morning. the president didn't just roll out a new set of gun proposals. he launched an emotional campaign to try to get congress to act, devoting more time lying out the need for new action on guns than the plans themselves. using every tool at his disposal to tap into public anger and grief about gun violence. in front of an audience that included parents of newtown victims, and making an emotional reference to one of the children who died. 7-year-old grace mcdonnell. >> i'm told she loved pink. she loved the beach. she dreamed of becoming a painter. chris, her father, gave me one of her paintings. and i hung it in my private study, just off the oval office. and every time i look at that painting, i think about grace. when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now.

for grace. >> president outlined four major points, what he called concrete steps, to keep kids safe. each one evoking memories of past mass shootings. first, mental health and information-sharing. the executive action will make it easier to share mental health records with authorities. a move maybe that could have identified seung-hei cho as a threat before the massacre. there was the ban that expired in 2004 and the type of gun used in newtown, connecticut is the kind that would be banned under a new law. a limit on the size of magazine clips. the president wants legislation to limit clips to ten bullets. something that would have reduced, perhaps, the number killed in the aurora, colorado movie theater massacre. and then there is the president's most important push. and that's for universal background checks. this is probably the thing that has the best chance of getting through congress. has the support of some gun

rights advocates. and might, just might, get bipartisan support. universal background checks could have prevented the columbine high school gunman from buying an assault weapon from a private seller who had bought it at a gun show. the president also proposed clearing the way for schools who want armed guards to get them. but he made just a passing reference to violent video games calling for research on their effects. and there was not a single mention of hollywood, violence, television or movies. president obama knows the only way anything meaningful will get done, though, on guns is if gun control advocates are able to tap into public emotion. frustration and anger. yesterday he pleaded with americans to confront congress directly. >> ask them what's more important. doing whatever it takes to get a "a" grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade.

>> and he showcased the children that have written him since newtown. >> on the letter that julia wrote me, she said, "i know that laws have to be passed by congress. but i beg you to try very hard." julia, i will try very hard. >> today, the white house outreach on guns kicks into high gear. the president has an op-ed in the "connecticut post" saying, quote, the truth there is only one voice powerful enough to make this happen. yours. the white house sent a campaign-style e-mail signed by have happened biden, saying now is the time to come together to protect our kids. and then they launched a website and social media campaign called "now is the time." this afternoon. >> , biden will speak to the u.s. conference of mayors in washington. a big part of his speech will be on guns. now, the political fight moves to congress. the first senate hearing on issues related to gun violence will be held in two weeks on january 30th, in the judiciary

committee. next thursday, california senator, dianne feinstein, will reintroduce the assault weapons ban on the floor of the senate. but so far, reaction has been fairly predictable with both house and senate leaders sounding as if a stalemate already exists. majority leader harry reid and speaker john boehner appear to be in a game of legislative chicken. boehner's spokesman released a statement after the president's speech saying, simply, house committees of jurisdiction will review these recommendations and if the senate passes a bill, we will also take a look at that. reid, of course, who has already said the senate will only consider legislation that can pass the house said in a very vague, carefully-worded statement yesterday, quote, i am committed to ensuring that the senate will consider can legislation that addresses gun violence and other aspects of violence in our society early this year. reid, of course, has home state politics to worry about, as well as keeping a number of red state democrats in line. many of them are up for

re-election in 2014. potentially vulnerable. montana senator max baucus responded to the senate in a statement, quote, before passing new laws, we need a debate that respects responsible, law-abiding gun owners in montana instead of a one-size-fits-all directives from washington. joe manchin said, quote, i'm disappointed the president did not recommend the creation of a national commission on mass violence that i have proposed. a national commission can build the consensus we need for real action, backed not only by gun control advocates, mental health experts and entertainment industry executives but also by law-abiding gun owners. the white house is worried that if this fight becomes too much about the assault weapons ban, and not enough about measures, which are more politically possible, they'll have a problem. they want to keep people focused on fights they can win. background checks, things like that. republicans have unsurprisingly responded negatively, including florida senator marco rubio.

>> by the own admission of the white house, what they have proposed to do would do nothing to have prevented what happened in connecticut or colorado before that or any of these other places where this has occurred. i actually think the president and doesn't have the guts to admit it, is not a believer in the second amendment. >> the white house is also up against the nra, which is raising money. e-mailing support, to upgrade their membership to prepare for, quote, the fight of the century. barack obama, joe biden and their gun ban allies in it congress only want to blame you, vilify you, bully you and strip you of your second amendment freedoms. nra president david keen made these slippery slope argument that has become all too familiar from them. this morning on the "today" show. >> you get into the sort of bidding match. they say we shouldn't have a 30-round magazine or 20-round. the president says let's have a ten. the governor of new york says well, i can top that, we'll have a seven-round magazine. >> but did the nra go too far by invoking president obama's daughters, even before he spoke

in a video attack? keene defended the decision this morning with savannah. >> it wasn't about the president's daughters. what it is about is the fact that -- >> the ad does mention the president's daughters. >> it's how to keep children safe. >> finally, as we gear up for the president's second inaugustration, are we better off than we were four years ago? the answer depends on the statistics you pick. there are plenty of numbers suggesting that the country is on more solid footing than it was when the president started in 2009. the dow is up 5,550 points since then, just shy of the 14,000 mark. the economy is growing. instead of contracting. in the first quarter of 2009, the gdp contracted 5.3%. it grew 3.1% when the last time it was officially measured. though remains below where it was before the great recession, consumer confidence has nearly doubled. and a larger percentage of americans, 41%, according to our last poll, believe the country

is headed in the right direction, up from 26% in january, 2009. on the other hand, there is plenty of data to support the idea that the drink country is not better off than it was four years ago. and that the struggling economy continues to take a toll on families. median household income is lower than it was in 2009. and 46 million americans live below the poverty line. several million more than four years ago. the federal public debt has increased from 10.6 trillion in january 2009 to 16.4 trillion now. then there's the big number that's exactly the same as it was four years ago. the unemployment rate. 7.8%. though it's down from, of course, a high of 10% in october of 2009. few other figures to look at over the last four years. the number of u.s. troops in iraq has dropped from nearly 140,000 to just 200. as the president fulfilled his promise to end the war in iraq. while the u.s. president is in afghanistan, those numbers have

increased. 34,000 when he took office. it's 66,000 troops there now. and one more thing. there are now fewer democrats serving in the u.s. house. then it was 257. now, 201 are serving in the u.s. senate. the caucus, which includes independents, is down from 58 to 55 members. didn't get to 60 members until the -- closer to the spring. and in the state houses in the country around 2009, there were 28 democratic governors. now there are 19. senior political editor, mark murray, crunched all these numbers for first-read this morning. i want the to just jump at the two big ones to me. it's sort of the state of america. median income in the poverty line. those are not good numbers. >> they aren't really good numbers, chuck. and you mentioned at the outset, you can see the economy is on better solid footing than it was on january 2009. but those two statistics, median household income, the poverty level. but it does show the toll the great recession has taken. and in some respects, his

exercise might be more fulfilling when we do it come 2016 instead of 2012 right now. you can see better trajectory on certain things. maybe the full picture won't be known until eight years from now. >> boy, when you look at wall street's recovery and main street's lack of a recovery. i mean, you can just -- no wonder there is this sort of anger and antipathy between a little bit -- between the way people feel about wall street. >> chuck, you remember the campaign, the obama campaign was very hesitant to make the argument, are you better off than you were four years ago. they finally embraced it, and the ads down the stretch. but there was always this hesitancy, because just as these statistics bear out, there is some good information, some good news. but there is also some bad news too. >> and, look, the unemployment rate is one of the good news stories. the economy is growing. not the way it needs to. but both of those in better shape. >> but the most -- the striking stat stick there, the number of troops in iraq. that was the issue that launched

barack obama's candidacy, allowed him to beat hillary clinton in 2008, allowed him to beat john mccain in that general election. and you see those numbers, what they were in january, 2009. >> i forget how much people didn't like that war. and still don't like that war to this day. and that brings us to our nbc "wall street journal" poll we will have tonight and tomorrow morning. >> 6:30 tonight with the first numbers. >> get over to first read and see all of mark's breakdowns. >> thanks, chuck. now to breaking news out of the african nation of algeria, conflicting reports about that hostage situation at a gas plant in the sahara desert. al qaeda-linked militants and local residents claim algerian military helicopters attacked the site this morning. killing at least 15 kidnappers and 35 hostages. a group believed to include foreign civilians. however, an algerian security source tells reuters that dozens of those hostages actually escaped. and yet another report says some hostages are still being held. according to the militants, the

kidnapping is present to protest french military strikes against the islamist rebels in mali. we'll keep an eye on that situation and bring you the latest throughout the hour. coming up next, the florida democrat to took on the tea party and won. freshman congressman patrick must have berphy on unseating a the youngest guy in congress. and his plan to help victims of natural disasters like sandy. plus, story everyone is talking about this morning. one of the top college football players in the country, a helpless victim of a sick joke? or was he part of this elaborate hoax? first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. kind of quiet now. getting set for the big inaugural festivities that begin this weekend. no word yet on whether he is going to formally get that chief of staff designation. that may not happen until after the oath. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. ♪ but i won't back down

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in our meet the member series, today we meet a new member of the 113th congress, also happens to be the youngest member in the new congress. florida's democratic congressman, patrick murphy, just 29 years old, fresh off a razor-thin victory for tea party incumbent allen west before arriving on capitol hill, murphy worked as a cpa and started his own business down in florida. committed to environmental clean-up following the bp oil spill. the freshman democrat said that accounting and business experience will help him on capitol hill. >> there's only eight cpas right now in congress. and when you look at what's happening with our fiscal house, it's a mess.

in my opinion, we need to put partisanship aside and look at the math. look at the arithmetic. and we need some people to understand the basics of accounting and finance and get our country back in order. >> murphy was a republican until 2011 when he says his disgust with the tea party led him to switch parties. he challenged congressman west in the newly drawn 18th district despite a clear financial advantage, running as a moderate alternative to the incumbent and boosted by some high-profile democrats, murphy eeked out a win by less than 2,000 votes. florida congressman patrick murphy joins me now. welcome to congress. >> good morning, chuck. >> good morning. let me start with this issue of a cpa in congress saying that we don't have enough of them. so if you looked at the federal budget, the way you would through your green eye shades, if you will, as a cpa, what do you see has to be done and how quickly does it have to be done? well, are the way i look at it,

we really have an opportunity right now to get our country back on the right track. if you look at what's happening across the world, you know, asia has slowed down, europe is still in a recession. south america is struggling right now. we have an opportunity to get our financial house in line. and there's three things we have to do. it starts with reducing our spending. increasing refuse lieu. and get our economy back on track. getting employment back going. and we're seeing pockets of growth throughout the country, and i'm optimistic about that. but if our government could create some stability and provide business owners and entrepreneurs with some predictability on what's to come, i think we would see investments just unleash and a lot of employment come back in our country. >> what do you think is the biggest spending problem in congress? >> well, if you look at what the president has done over the last two years, he has actually cut $2.4 trillion over the next decade. so he's taken an attempt to reduce spending. there is more that can be done. we really have to address some

of the other programs we have down the road. things like social security, medicare. these are programs in the future that need to be addressed. now, they are some of the most successful programs in our country's history. so we need to make sure we protect them. but we need to look at their long-term sustainability. >> the business round table is out with a recommendation this morning. they think the retirement age should be boosted all the way to 70. would you support something like that, or some increase in the retirement age when it comes to social security and medicare? >> well, this is a broader conversation. and this has to be taken in the context of everything on the table. we must be realistic when it comes to things -- >> you don't rule that out. a lot of democrats do. >> well, the first solution, i believe, is raising the cap. right now you're taxed up until you make $113,000. let's raise that cap to $150,000. there has been numerous proposals by democrats to do this. and this adds years and years of life to social security.

so let's put that on the table and see what the other side comes back with and have that conversation. >> one of the proposals that intrigued me that you have out there is this idea that there needs to be budgeting for natural disaster clean-ups. you come from the state of florida, i'm a floridian. we know all too well, we see what's going on with sandy. those are the first votes you voted oranges which is to spend money on these clean-ups. do you think you can budget this? >> well, when you live here in south florida and you are, you know, live in fear of hurricanes every season, it's definitely in the back of your mind frequently. and is there was a bill that was put forward several years ago by some local south floridan members of congress, a national catastrophic fund. when you look across the country, basically everywhere there is natural disasters from floods and earthquakes, snowstorms, blizzards, hurricanes. you name it. we all are prone to some sort of natural disaster. so there is an idea to have a

national catastrophic fund. this idea would come through the committee that i'm on, financial services. so this is something that i'm going to look into. and i think we can get some good support for it. right here in my backyard, a big part of our economy is beaches, is tourism. so when you lose those beaches, when sandy went by, we lost our beaches. that's going to affect our tourism and revenue. so it's really an economic situation. >> so being the youngest member of congress, are you getting hazed? fellow members? >> not yet. not yet. most of the talk has been about beating one of the tea party heroes. that's been more the chatter, not my age so much. >> fair enough. patrick murphy, democrat from south florida. welcome to congress. congratulations. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> all right. up next, a football fakout. heisman runner up manti te'o led his team to the national championship game. that heartbreaking story about the death of his girlfriend just hours after his grandmother died.

it turned out that girlfriend may never have existed. it was all made up. was he in on the hoax? we're going to talk about it next. but first, today's trivia question. who administered the oath of office to more presidents than anyone else? tweet me the answer at chuck todd and at "the daily rundown." first correct answer gets a follow-up thursday from us. sometimes what we suffer from is bigger than we think ... like the flu. with aches, fever and chills- the flu's a really big deal.

so why treat it like it's a little cold? there's something that works differently than over-the-counter remedies. prescription tamiflu attacks the flu virus at its source. so don't wait. call your doctor right away. tamiflu is prescription medicine for treating the flu in adults and children one year and older whose flu symptoms started within the last two days. before taking tamiflu tell your doctor if you're pregnant, nursing. have serious health conditions, or take other medicines. if you develop an allergic reaction, a severe rash, or signs of unusual behavior, stop taking tamiflu and call your doctor immediately. children and adolescents in particular may be at an increased risk of seizures, confusion or abnormal behavior. the most common side effects are mild to moderate nausea and vomiting. the flu comes on fast, so ask your doctor about tamiflu. prescription for flu.

excuse me, sir i'm gonna have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see?

...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app. college football's field-good story of the year turns out to be nothing but a hoax. who was in on it? notre dame linebacker, heisman trophy runner up, manti te'o says he's the victim of an elaborate scheme through which he thought was an authentic online relationship with a woman for nearly a year. and then was told in mid september she died of leukemia. and then word of his alleged girlfriend's death on the same day as his grandmother passed away. well, here he is, talking about it on espn in october.

>> never felt that way before. this is six hours ago i just found out my grandma passed away. and you take, you know, the love of my life. the last thing she said to me was "i love you." and that was it. >> ah, but the woman known as lennay kekua never existed. an investigation by notre dame found no record of her life or death. just a string of online accounts. the two, te'o, now admits, had never actually met. in a statement, te'o said, quote, to realize that i was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was and is painful and humiliating. nbc's john yang is following this story. he's in south bend, indiana. so john, we know we're going to hear from manti te'o tonight. that was quite the press conference last night with the athletic director of notre dame. what's amazing here is notre dame seems to be 100% convinced

that te'o is a victim and not part of this scheme. >> reporter: that's right, chuck. here's this morning's south bend tribune. "cruel hoax" the big headline. notre dame is standing behind te'o, saying he is the victim of this hoax. there are a lot of unanswered questions, questions that in many ways can only be answered by te'o himself. for instance, inconsistencies. jack swarbrick said that te'o told him he had never met this young woman, this alleged young woman, face-to-face. but his father is quoted in an october story in the "south bend tribune" saying they did meet face-to-face, at least a couple times in hawaii, where te'o lived. another big question that swarbrick addressed last night, is what's the possible motivation for this hoax? >> we had no idea as to motive. and that was really significant to us.

was there somebody trying to create an nca violation at the core of this? was there somebody trying to impact the outcome of football games? by manipulating the emotions of a key player? was there an extortion request coming? >> reporter: and chuck, as you know, in politics when you've got a potentially embarrassing story like this, it's important to control the story. and it appears that te'o thought he did have control of this story, that he was going to talk on espn next week. but now with the deadspin story yesterday, he's lost that control. and will try to come back tonight on espn to give his side of the story. chuck? >> and one -- and john, one other -- he didn't really seem to answer very well, swarbrick, which is why not go to authorities to see if it some crime was being committed? that question has never fully been answered.

i understand that maybe there wasn't a crime here. but, boy, you would wonder why wouldn't you bring in the authorities? hiring a private investigative firm only adds to this mythology that notre dame was trying to basically hide this. >> reporter: well, reading between the lines, swarbrick said essentially, yes, we knew on the 4th of january, before the championship game, that this was a hoax. but they felt that it was te'o's story to tell, not their story to tell. so they weren't going public. reading between the lines of what swarbrick said about going to authorities, they didn't see that notre dame was the victim of any crime. that the real victim here that they -- they say is te'o himself. and that it is up to te'o to do something, and they said that they were leaving it up to him as he gathered his representative team, his team who represented him in the upcoming nfl draft to figure out

what to do about that. and that they were leaving it to him. chuck? >> all right, john yang in south bend, indiana. so it's manti te'o tonight or lance armstrong, whichever makes you feel worse about sports heroes. next, developing news on hostages being held by an al qaeda-linked militant in algeria. we're going to talk to retired general stanley mcchrystal about that. plus the exit strategy in afghanistan. chuck hagel's nomination. all sorts of things during general mcchrystal's time. you're watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. here's a word that could give you peace of mind. unbiased. some brokerage firms are. but way too many aren't. why? because selling their funds makes them more money. which makes you wonder -- isn't that a conflict? go to e-trade. we've g0t over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. e-trade. less for us. more for you.

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what's good for the pot... is even better for the cup. new single serve cafe collections from maxwell house. now available for use in the keurig k-cup brewer. always good to the last drop. back to that breaking news out of algeria where british and japanese diplomats say where an operation meant to free foreign civilians and who is tamgs may have resulted in their deaths. algerian officials told them they launched an operation against the al qaeda-linked

militants but helicopters ended up opening fire on the kidnappers and hostages, killing as many as 35. at the same time, an algerian security force says around 20 foreign hostages actually escaped. total number of hostages is unclear. militants initially claim they had seized 41 foreigners, including americans and were holding them at a gas plant in the sahara desert. kidnapping was conducted in protest of french air strikes against rebels in the neighboring nation of mali. we'll bring the latest on this story as it develops. turning now to foreign affairs, if you will. the war in afghanistan. where the war against al qaeda began 11 years ago. the drawdown of u.s. troops there is now expected to begin within months. general stanley mcchrystal, the man once in charge of the war in afghanistan says the divide between politicians and the commanders on the ground are creating a large deficit of trust. after "rolling stone" interview in which mcchrystal slammed obama and members of the administration, he was forced to

resign. he said he did not end as he would have wished. today he says he has moved on with his life and is now free to speak his mind. >> afghanistan is hard. it's always been hard. if you study their history, it's never anything but complex and difficult. >> i spent a career carrying typically an m-16 and later an m-4 carbine. i personally don't think there is any need for that kind of weaponry on the streets, and particularly in and around the schools in america. i like the fact that chuck hagel has had his feet in the mud as a soldier. i like the fact that he's had a lot of background. >> joining me now is the former top commander in afghanistan, retired general stanley mcchrystal. he has a brand-new memoir called "my share of the task." general, nice to see you. >> good to see you, chuck. >> we have heard you on a number of topics. it was interesting on the assault weapon. i want to start with what's going on in north africa and mali. and i know you know about as much as we do when it comes to what's going on specifically there. but are you surprised at how

aggressive the french are being? >> i was surprised at the response that they are showing in mali. i think that they're trying to support the government there and roll back what has been a combined group of partly tuareg s, partly al qaeda. >> define al qaeda now. we say al qaeda-linked militants. i feel like we use it a lot. is it used too easily, this -- to describe any militant group these days? >> well, i think it is. and they use it. al qaeda is not a religious movement. it's a political movement. it is used by different groups as a -- >> terrorist groups want to brand themselves that makes them seem more important, do you think? >> makes them seem more credible and legitimate. makes them seem linked to something larger. makes them feel a certain amount of bona fidei they wouldn't otherwise have. so they grab that.

>>el what's the status versus the al qaeda we deal with today? >> what's interesting, al qaeda was always an idea but there was an al qaeda leadership and there are still parts of that in western afghanistan and other parts. they linked together in a franchise-like arrangement in different areas like inside as i cover in my book in great detail. in iraq, they weren't really controlled by al qaeda senior leadership from pakistan. they were advised. they weren't resourced. they were able to resource themselves. and that's largely true in yemen, the horn of africa. there will be some expertise that's passed around. but it's not one type network in which if you crack part of it you automatically crack it all. you've got to go after each. >> one of the things that jumped out at me in the first interview you did with the "today" show with matt is you were talking about the importance that a commander in chief trusts his secretary of defense, trusts his commanders. did you sense there was a deficit of trust between, say, you and the president early on? in afghanistan? >> if you think of any complex endeavor that you're a part of,

and you're going to do it with a team of people, if you don't trust them at the outset, you're going to have to develop trust very quickly. >> and he never chose you in this case. do you think that's the issue? >> i think he was involved. i was chosen by secretary gates, and clearly approved by the president. so i wases his commander. i replaced general mckiran in june of 2010. i think, though, there are a number of things. i think people underestimate the difference between the cultures of the civilian culture and military culture. it's not an opposition. they are just different. so they use different words, different backgrounds. they have a different understanding sometimes of history. plus a new administration comes in, any new administration, doesn't matter which party. and they've got to form a team and they're trying to internally form a team and also trying to form a team with people like dod. i want to ask you about the pat tillman affair. i know that you've said that you don't write a lot about it in here. in the book. have you spoken to pat tillman's mom? >> i have. >> what was that conversation

like? >> well, i would certainly keep that private. between mary tillman and myself. but there were several conversations and they were very, very civil. >> and do you feel as if this -- do you feel we know the whole story on pat tillman? >> i don't know. there have been five investigations on pat tillman. i know that the part that i saw, the whole story is out and it's very clear. and i never saw anything where anybody was trying to conduct any kind of cover-up. they were always trying to do the right thing for corporal tillman, because he was one of ours, a comrade we lost. and also for the family. >> all right. general mcchrystal, got to leave it there. fascinating book, goes through a lot of things. thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks, chuck. >> good talking to you. the twisted tale of manti te'o. our gaggle will be here next on that and the complicated fight over guns on capitol hill. first, white house soup of the day. loaded potato. i have nothing on that one. this morning. don't forget to check out our website, rundown on msnbc.com.

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only an alert and knowledgeable citizen can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals. so security and liberty may prosper together. >> daily flash back. it was this day in 1961 when president eisen our delivered his famous farewell address warning against unwaeshlted influence by the military industrial complex. president obama's gun control package faces an uncertain future on capitol hill. house republicans are rejecting his proposals pretty much all together, in support from some senate democrats may be tough to find as well. can any of it make it through capitol hill gauntlet? let's bring in former republican senator from new hampshire, johnson and washington bureau chief susan page and congressman from maryland and former naacp

president. welcome all of you. >> thank you. >> i want to start with guns. congressman. do you think -- were you surprised that the president went as big as he did? of course i really wasn't. the president got elected after a long, tough struggle to put forth a vision. i think this is the first part of the vision. i don't think it was planned. i think what happened in the tragedy here kind of spurred him in that direction. and you know, this use of executive order as we have seen since 1933 when fdr first went to the congress and asked for those powers. so they have been around. this is a bold effort. and i think he did so many executive orders, simply to try to increase some of the pressure on the congress and on others. >> in 1994, you had a hard time getting this done and you had democratic congress. john, you're from a state, live free or die. even if you're a democrat or republican, you're unified when it comes to all things guns. is there any part of this you think can get passed? >> well, you've got to separate

it. you've got the executive proposals that he put forward. and actually, most of those, i think, have -- bipartisan support. i mean -- >> i was just going to say -- >> i wouldn't call it going long. but getting -- >> not an overreach either. >> getting more into the system. helping states and incentivizing states to get data into the background check system. doing a better job on enforcement. nominating someone from atf. those are reasonable proposals. i think they're helpful. i don't know they would have prevented the tragedy at newtown. but i think they'll have some bipartisan support. then you have the legislation. and as you point out, presidents are going to have opposition in the opposing party. the question is whether there is division among democrats. and the key people to watch in the house, john dingle, because there are many, many republicans that will really follow john dingle's lead. >> still. >> because of his experience. absolutely. and in the senate you have

senators up for re-election. in virginia. in north carolina. in arkansas. in montana. >> yeah. >> that are democrats. >> red seat democrats. it's been interesting. they're all sort of -- they're not -- they're not rushing to embrace the president. >> i think it's hard to be optimistic. legislation gets through. it's possible if they break it up and not -- try not to do something comprehensive, maybe universal background checks seems to be an issue in which there is more consensus than the others. but i think the safe position is to assume -- the newtown tragedy, that's a factor. gabby giffords is out there campaigning. mike bloomberg is putting money behind it. maybe it will be different from what we expect. but i do think the default expectation is that it's going to be very hard to get something done. >> were you -- one part of this, and i was surprised the president -- we didn't talk -- he didn't talk a lot about the sort of everyday inner city problem of gun violence. talked a little bit about chicago. but not a lot -- obviously, a baltimore native.

is there a piece of legislation that can help on something like that? >> well, people who want to do bad things with guns will find a way to get them, unfortunately. and you can't prevent every tragedy. and what happens in inner cities is happening everywhere. i think what the president is trying to do is to lessen the probability of some of these things by reducing the proliferation of weapons. that's why i want to go back to this assault weapons ban. we tried like the dickens in '94 to get this done. there has been so much opposition to it. and i don't understand it. i think we're going to get background checks, 94% of all of the americans have -- >> universal background check does seem to have -- >> yeah, 94% of americans today have said that's what they wants. but what do we need this assault weapons -- why we need it is because you're not going to hunt quail with assault weapons, not bear, you're going to hunt people. and as long as we proliferate

those in society, they will get stolen, lost. a lot of them being sold out of the backs of trucks at gun shows. that's where the proliferation is taking place. there has got to be some control over that. >> how do you have that conversation with rural america? >> look -- >> i think urban america says yeah, you don't need something like that. but you talk to a lot of gun owners who say wait a minute. i had joe manchin tell me this. >> you do that with a regular gun, semi automatic gun. you don't need assault weapon. street sweepers. >> and that's the challenge. the challenge in '94, it will be the challenge today, as they try to write legislation to bring to the senate if they do a piece meal approach. how do you define it? because it's not the semiautomatic feature. it's the stock, it's the site, it's the grip. those are the things they had to write into the law in 1994. they had to specify very specific models. and that becomes a challenge, not just for writing legislation

but for -- >> the cynic in me says the assault weapons ban proposal is up for negotiation. >> yeah. >> it says, if they can get universal background checks and the >> there are gun control advocates including carol mccarthy who suggests that might not be -- that would be an outcome -- here's a question for me, how much does president obama actually invest in this proposal. >> he was more invested yesterday than i thought he would be. >> there's a lot of other things that he needs to do this year and wants to do like gun control. >> what i hear, when susan says invest in this, i think we're talking about what presidents need to do which is to reach out to those senators in virginia and west virginia, north carolina and montana and sit

down with them quietly and say where can we go with this? >> you won't be seeing that by the way. >> i don't think you would. but if something like that should happen. stick around, i want to talk about lance armstrong. who administered the oath of office to more presidents than anyone else? the chance is chief justice roger taney. he admin steistered the oath se different times. chief justice john marshall administered the oath nine times, but not to nine different presidents. [ roasting firewood ] ♪ many hot dogs are within you. try pepto-bismol to-go, it's the power of pepto, but it fits in your pocket. now tell the world daniel... of pepto-bismol to-go.

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bring back our gaggle here, former senator john shn sununu,

manti teo, a good friend pd of show wrote -- stories like these leaves knots in our stomachs because we so desperately want to believe our sports heroes are pure and we want to hope too that our politicians are at least competent. we build them up, break them down because we expect so much out of our national institutions. you think he overwrote? >> i think one we don't know all the details about the teo situation. >> they were concerned about these reputation, what information they had, he's a young guy. obviously he was misled to some extent in this whole process. the lance armstrong situation is

very different. i think the election we just had for the baseball hall of fame because of the use of performance-enhancing drugs. >> if the university thought that there were some possible fallout, i mean the athletic director said this could have been about interacting ncaa requirements, it could be about extortion, if that's the case, you would think that the university would move forward with it's own investigation, gather the facts and then turn those over. >> i have to leave it there, because they're playing my song. >> margaret, shameless plug. >> for the 53rd time, the u.s. marine corps band, the president's own will be performing there under mike colburn. so shameless plug, a shoutout to the marine band. >> the underdogs for the second week in a row, stunning the new england patriots in a win. >> i'm as you know, chairman of

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